Field
The present disclosure relates generally to communication systems, and more particularly, to techniques of transmission signaling and scheduling of internet-of-everything (IoE) devices in wireless IoE networks.
Background
The background description provided herein is for the purpose of generally presenting the context of the disclosure. Work of the presently named inventors, to the extent it is described in this background section, as well as aspects of the description that may not otherwise qualify as prior art at the time of filing, are neither expressly nor impliedly admitted as prior art against the present disclosure.
In a wireless IoE network, typically, most IoE devices will be in a power-saving mode (i.e., the sleep mode) most of the time to conserve power. When an IoE device sleeps, the IoE device operates in a power-saving mode. Particularly, the transmitter and the receiver of the IoE device may be disabled (e.g., turned off) and may not be able to transmit or receive signals. In order to communicate, however, a transmitting IoE device can only transmit when the receiving IoE device is awake. When an IoE device is awake, the IoE device operates in a normal operation mode. Particularly, the transmitter and the receiver of the IoE device may be enabled (e.g., turned on) and may be able to transmit or receive signals.
This necessitates a mechanism for scheduling and signaling awake periods among IoE devices such that the IoE devices can discover and communicate with each other. Furthermore, in a multi-hop wireless IoE network, the awake scheduling of different devices on a route requires coordination in order to achieve low end-to-end latency.
The IoE devices in a wireless IoE network may have a traffic that requires best-effort, that is bursty and requires lower-latency, and/or that is periodic with widely-varying cycles. The IoE devices may have limited power, which necessitates that the IoE devices operate in a power-saving mode as often as possible.
Thus, there is a need for a mechanism for arranging transmission signaling and scheduling that allows the IoE devices to sleep most of the time when they are not directly transmitting or receiving and, at the same time, that facilitates achieving the desired latency for different types of traffic.
Further, there is a need for a mechanism that allows the IoE devices in a wireless IoE network to prioritize transmissions/receptions of messages among the IoE devices such that a particular IoE device can sleep most of the time when not directly transmitting and can access the shared medium with priority and continue to reserve a slot in each frame for a duration to meet the latency constraints and/or the desired periodicity of the traffic of the particular IoE device.